BofA shareholders to vote on rule change that made Moynihan chairmanBank of America will hold a special shareholder meeting to vote on the rule change that allowed CEO Brian Moynihan to become chairman a year ago, according to a regulatory filing. "In October 2014, we amended the company’s Bylaws to provide flexibility in considering the appropriate leadership structure for the Board as facts and circumstances may require," the company said in a filing with the SEC. "As discussed in the proxy statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and in the enclosed proxy materials, we determined it currently is in the company’s and stockholders’ best interests to have Brian Moynihan serve as Chairman and Jack Bovender serve as Lead Independent Director—a new Board leadership role with robust powers and responsibilities to facilitate strong independent Board leadership. Since we established this governance structure, the Board has continued its diligent and active oversight of management, and we are confident this Board’s leadership structure serves the best interests of the company and all of us as stockholders by providing effective and efficient Board leadership while maintaining strong, independent oversight of management. We undertook a thorough and thoughtful process before changing the company’s Bylaws, and, through our engagement with you, we have heard your desire to vote on this action. We now seek your support of our decision. We encourage you to read the attached proxy materials to understand why we believe you should ratify the Bylaw change." No date has been yet for the meeting. Reference Link

U.S. banks prepared to take advantage of Euro lenders' cautions, WSJ saysU.S. banks are preparing to advance in the sector after reporting earnings, with executives touting the gloom coming from their European counterparts as a major opportunity to capitalize on their newfound advantage, the Wall Street Journal reports. On Thursday, Deutsche Bank (DB) CEO John Cryan said that the company must "shrink" its balance sheet, while Barclays (BCS) chairman John McFarlane said that Wall Street lenders are "an enormous threat" to Euro investment banks, the report says. On the other hand, Morgan Stanley (MS) chairman James Gorman said after reporting earnings last week that the company is poised to advanced in the debt trading sector, and that "there's a potential for, over a period of time, share gain for our business," the report says. In addition, Goldman Sachs finance chief Harvey Schwartz said that the company is "seeing potential big restructuring on the European side," the report adds. Publicly traded companies in the European space include Banco Santander (SAN), Barclays (BCS), Credit Suisse (CS), Deutsche Bank (DB), HSBC (HSBC), ING Groep (ING), Lloyds Banking (LYG), RBS (RBS) and UBS (UBS). Publicly traded companies in the U.S. space include Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Wells Fargo (WFC). Reference Link

Banks pitch total-return swaps as stock purchase alternative, WSJ reportsBanks have been pitching certain hedge fund clients on using derivatives instead of actual stocks when placing certain bets in an effort to lessen the impact of new capital rules on the banks' businesses, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the efforts. The shift involves derivatives known as total-return swaps that mirror the effects of owning a stock or other asset, the report says. Units of Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and UBS (UBS) are among the banks asking clients to shift trades into total-return swaps instead of underlying securities, the report says. Reference Link

Bank of America increases environmental initiative from $50B to $125BBank of America said it has pledged to increase the company’s current environmental business initiative from $50B to $125B in low-carbon business by 2025 through lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services and developing financing solutions for clients around the world.

Bank of America announces CFO Bruce Thompson to step downBank of America announced that CFO Bruce Thompson has decided to step down after more than five years as Chief Risk Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Paul Donofrio, who has been with Bank of America since 1999 and has 25 years of global corporate and investment banking experience, will become CFO, effective August 1. Additionally, Global Human Resources executive Andrea Smith will assume a newly created position as Chief Administrative Officer. Replacing Smith as Global Human Resources executive is Sheri Bronstein.

Bank of America CFO Bruce Thompson to step down, WSJ reports Bank of America CFO Bruce Thompson is leaving the bank, according to an internal memo, and will be replaced with Paul Donofrio, the Wall Street Journal reports. Reference Link